ANNUAL FLOWERING PLANTS. 113 



logues, as this will facilitate reference to them for 

 descriptions. The rule for the sowing of seeds already 

 given in the chapter " Propagation of Plants by Seeds," 

 applies to sowing the seeds of annuals whether in the hot- 

 bed or greenhouse, to obtain plants to set in the open 

 border, or sowing at once in the open border. The cov- 

 ering of the seeds should in every case be of a light ma- 

 terial. Thus, if the soil of your flower-garden is hard 

 and rough, be sure that the surface on which the delicate 

 seeds are to be sown is made smooth and level, and that 

 it is covered with a fine light soil, such as leaf-mold, in 

 the manner described in the chapter referred to. Proba- 

 bly three-fourths of all the flower-seeds that are sown by 

 amateurs never germinate, and for no other reason than 

 that they have not been properly treated. One sows a 

 tropical seed, such as Portulaca, in March, and wonders 

 that it does not start to grow; by May, the time it should 

 be sown in the ground, the spot has become covered with 

 weeds, and the tiny plant, if it comes now at all, is 

 choked and killed. Another reverses the order and 

 wonders that the hardy Pansy seeds which are sown in 

 June, fail to grow, or if they grow, fail to bloom in the 

 dog days. Our seed catalogues are nearly all defective in 

 not giving more specific directions for the culture of an- 

 nual plants ; if the space used for description of form and 

 color was devoted to telling the time and manner of sow- 

 ing, it would be of far more benefit to the amateur buyer, 

 but nearly all follow the English practice of giving de- 

 scriptions of varieties only. There the necessity for such 

 information is less, the people being better informed as to 

 flower culture, and the climate is also more congenial for 

 germination of most seeds. 



